I have a question on the subject. The way magic(al) realism is described to me, seems no different than what is currently termed urban fantasy. Is there actually a difference between the two in literary terms?
So what are you reading, now? Part V
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Magical realism is what literary fiction types claim to write, while urban fantasy is what commercial types admit to writing...
Having returned from Redemption I've returned to the Elvis Cole Early Years omnibus (which I didn't want to take with me cos it was too big and heavy) by starting Lullaby Town. I suspect after that it'll probably be China Meiville's Kraken, which I bought on Saturday.
Also, JLA Year One.
Also, JLA Year One.
Blech! I tend to shy away from paranormal romance drivel like Twilight and the rest of the vampire/werewolf nonsense. I prefer more solid urban fantasy like Mack's The Calling and I wish there was more out there like that.
Do The Dresden Files count? Are they good?
There's an overlap, but they're not identical. "Magical realism" originally referred to a more literary style, stories that involved paranormal or reality-bending elements but presented them in the style of realism, but the usage has broadened to blend with the term "urban fantasy." I'd say that UF doesn't necessarily have to be told in a realistic style, but can be more romantic or melodramatic or surrealist or whatever, just so long as it's in an urban, particularly modern urban, setting.
If people treat those and "paranormal romance" as overlapping or interchangeable categories, I think it's just because they're all alternatives to the sort of medieval or otherworldly settings we expect from high fantasy. But there are certainly differences in approach and emphasis.
Those are definitely urban fantasy, and they're excellent. They're basically a mix of gritty noir-detective and high fantasy, with whole realms of mystical creatures and powers and phenomena clashing with the everyday, street-level world. But they start out more on the street level and get more and more epic as they go. They also fall somewhat into the "logical fantasy" subgenre used by other writers like Larry Niven and Diane Duane, in that they depict magic as something that conforms to clear, consistent rules, including the laws of physics.
^Based on that, the Dresden Files go on to my read list though I suspect I will be getting them from the library.
On that subject, the UK has something called Public Lending Rights in which authors get a kind of royalty check from libraries because people are borrowing their books. I understand that in the UK this is a simple matter because the government runs the libraries, and I know that it works in Canada, but I don't know how.
Could it work in the US?
On that subject, the UK has something called Public Lending Rights in which authors get a kind of royalty check from libraries because people are borrowing their books. I understand that in the UK this is a simple matter because the government runs the libraries, and I know that it works in Canada, but I don't know how.
Could it work in the US?
Just for the reason of posting something, I shall mention this year's reading so far: (1) the last two books of the Preternatural trilogy by Margaret Wander Bonanno; (2) the first two books of A Time to ... series; (3) all four books of The Dominion War; (4) Mere Anarchy; and, (5) Mindshadow (ST-TOS #27). Currently reading "Catcher in the Rye" by Salinger for the first time and also currently reading "Living High and Letting Die" by Peter Unger. Hope this spot is not for authors only.
I stayed up a little late last night to finish The Children of Kings. I liked it a lot. A strong story with some solid writing. Although I didn't know until the author's note at the end that it was a prequel to the 2009 film. All the mentions of gooseneck viewers and people waving their hands over consoles definitely made me see the world of "The Cage". But I suppose it could fit in either context.
Next up is Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man And The Sea for book club.
Next up is Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man And The Sea for book club.
^Well, it's not really in either universe. It's in it's own separate reality that doesn't line up completely with the Prime or Abrams universes.
As for what I'm reading, I'm going to be starting HG Wells' The Time Machine. I'm getting ready to work through as many of the classics that I never read in school as I can. I had started Dracula's intro a while back, but I'm not really in the mood for that kind of thing right now. I've for a ton of the classics really cheep for the Nook through both B&N Classics and Mobile Reference.
I love The Dresden Files, it and the True Blood/Southern Vampire Mysteries are two of my favorite series ATM.
As for what I'm reading, I'm going to be starting HG Wells' The Time Machine. I'm getting ready to work through as many of the classics that I never read in school as I can. I had started Dracula's intro a while back, but I'm not really in the mood for that kind of thing right now. I've for a ton of the classics really cheep for the Nook through both B&N Classics and Mobile Reference.
You couldn't pay me enough to force me to read another vampire book.
IT's just finding the right kinda a vampire books is the problem I read all four of the twilight books thought they were pretty good don't care for the movies though. I've read the first two in the dressden files I thought they were great . And. would'nt buffy the vampire slayer be considered urban fantasy ? also you may want to try laurell k hamilton or l a banks who are realy good writters . and there main characters are vampire hunters . later on this year I want to try reading simon r green's series.
currently reading star trek enterprise daedalus's children and then rosetta afterwords .
currently watching season 5 of supernatural .
currently reading star trek enterprise daedalus's children and then rosetta afterwords .
currently watching season 5 of supernatural .
Just finished The Fort by Bernard Conrwell, a Revolutionary War story which was definitely enjoyable, and The Confessions by Augustine, which...made for dreary reading. Not a very happy fellow.
Starting in Reap the Whirlwind and am trying to imagine Katherine Heigel (the author's pick for the Klingon woman) with red hair.
Starting in Reap the Whirlwind and am trying to imagine Katherine Heigel (the author's pick for the Klingon woman) with red hair.
I've had more than enough vampires to last me a lifetime.Really? I can't think of any book I wouldn't read if someone paid me $10,000.
I don't want the "right kind" of vampire books, I don't want any. It is almost as if UF writers can't think of anything else to write but vamps and werewolves.
GET CREATIVE, PPL
It's not the writers - it's the editors, publishers and marketing chimps who often insist on following the trend because that's what makes the company some money.
As opposed to, say, science fiction writers who keep writing about aliens, androids, or spaceships?
Or fantasy authors who write about wizards and quests and dragons?
Vampire and werewolf stories aren't a fad. They've been popular since at least 1817 and they'll probably still be popular long after we're all (un)dead.
Writers aren't forced to write vampire/werewolf novels, they choose to because there is a market for them. If people stopped buying them, the "editors, publishers and marketing chimps" would move on to the next big thing.
There are innumerable variations on "aliens, androids, or spaceships" but vampires and werewolves are just relationship fodder for paranormal P.I.s.
Again, there are innumerable variations on "wizards and quests and dragons."
Perhaps they will. I don't read much fantasy these days because currently it seems like I've read it all before, same with science fiction to some extent. But after the Southern Vampire series, the Twilight saga, Hamilton's extensive body of work, and most of all, the predominant YA novels featuring such things, it seems like over-saturation.
I don't doubt that they've been around for decades, but they come and go in cycles. I'm looking forward to the end of the cycle and getting back to real urban fantasy like The Calling.
I disagree. Not all vampire novels are just the same old thing. You have vampire romances, vampire thrillers, vampire comedies, vampire historicals, vampire epics, etc. Some are pulpy, some are dark and disturbing, some are upscale and literary . . . just like every other subgenre or topic.
Dismissing vampires and werewolves as just trendy "relationship fodder" is really no different than all the clueless mainstream types who assume that all science fiction is just silly ray-gun stuff and aliens with bumpy heads. Or that all comic books are kid stuff.
(Just ask your grandmother or brother-in-law. I'm sure one of them doesn't see any "innumerable variations" where aliens or robots are concerned.)
P.S. I'm not jumping on you specifically; I'm been seeing this sort of dismissive attitude from cranky sf fans a lot lately. Like science fiction tropes are somehow superior and more evergreen than gothic horror tropes.
Which is silly, IMHO. Werewolves are just as valid a plot device as telepaths, wizards, or time travel. They're all traditional elements of genre fiction.
But you don't see people rolling their eyes on-line whenever somebody mentions a new book about cyborgs or superheroes.
Dismissing vampires and werewolves as just trendy "relationship fodder" is really no different than all the clueless mainstream types who assume that all science fiction is just silly ray-gun stuff and aliens with bumpy heads. Or that all comic books are kid stuff.
(Just ask your grandmother or brother-in-law. I'm sure one of them doesn't see any "innumerable variations" where aliens or robots are concerned.)
P.S. I'm not jumping on you specifically; I'm been seeing this sort of dismissive attitude from cranky sf fans a lot lately. Like science fiction tropes are somehow superior and more evergreen than gothic horror tropes.
Which is silly, IMHO. Werewolves are just as valid a plot device as telepaths, wizards, or time travel. They're all traditional elements of genre fiction.
But you don't see people rolling their eyes on-line whenever somebody mentions a new book about cyborgs or superheroes.
The way it's always been explained to me, magical realism tends to present the extraordinary and the supernatural in a context where it's seen as mundane or normal or at least unsurprising, while things that are in reality seen as mundane are often treated as extraordinary things. This would probably contrast with urban fantasy, which still tends to depict the supernatural as a break from "normal" expectations about how the world works. Magical realism also predates urban fantasy, if I understand things correctly -- the archetypal magical realist being Gabriel García Márquez.
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